Free pilgrimage bus service to Amritsar | Badals election gimmick?

With elections round the corner, the Punjab government plans to launch free pilgrimage bus service for the people to visit Amritsar and experience the newly-opened heritage walk in the precincts of Golden Temple and the war heroes’ memorial and museum.
The service is expected to kick off from November 1 and would cover all the 117 assembly constituencies in the state.

On the sidelines of a state level function to mark the 105th birth anniversary of Sant Fateh Singh, one of the founders of Punjabi Suba, Rajya Sabha member Balwinder Singh Bhunder said the free bus service to Amritsar would help people to have a peep into the rich heritage and culture of Punjab.

“The leaders can’t explain the grandeur of the heritage street in their speeches, therefore the state government has planned free bus service to ferry people to Amritsar,” Bhunder said
Earlier, the state government offered free train facility to Nanded Sahib, Varanasi and Ajmer Sharief, besides starting free bus service to the Salasar dham in Rajasthan.

Seconding Bhunder’s views, cabinet minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and Bholath MLA Bibi Jagir Kaur said the heritage street and war heroes’ memorial are best in the country and people must visit them as the government had put a lot of effort to promote culture and tourism.
Meanwhile, the SAD leaders used the stage to exhort people to vote for the SAD-BJP combine in the coming elections and slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress.

Attacking Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over his meetings with panthic leaders in Punjab, Sekhon said Kejriwal was trying to disturb the peaceful atmosphere in the state by garnering support from radical forces.

Bholath MLA Jagir Kaur said despite intense struggle of Sant Fateh Singh for Punjabi Suba 50 years ago, the then Congress government had given a handicapped Punjab by not including Punjabi- speaking areas, snatching its capital and robbing its waters.